UIUC or Purdue: Which is the Better Choice for Electrical/Computer Engineering?

[Lykin]

Assuming cost and location don't matter, does UIUC/Purdue have a distinct advantage over the other for electrical/computer engineering? Specifically I want to do something with integrated circuit design, mainly microarchitecture/VLSI design. Now I'm pretty sure that they're both ranked fairly closely (for whatever it's worth) and was wondering if there is any reason to choose one over the other based on purely academic purposes?

Not sure if this will have an effect on which to choose but I plan on getting my Bachelor's from one of these universities then moving on to a different one for my Master's (would like to go on to Stanford).

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I went to Purdue for ECE and I highly recommend it. It's a good program, for one. But the best part is that Purdue hosts one of the largest career fairs in the world every year, and the Purdue name commands respect among hiring employers. You will do well with a degree from there.

 

[jhicks]

If you are pursuing a higher degree, undergrad ranking doesn't mean much within reason because the undergrad curriculum is pretty much standardized. My opinion is there would be no more variability in the education you received by different faculty at the same institution than by different institutions. A better reason to choose one or the other might be 1) Availability of certain extracurriculars or 2) price. Wherever you decide to go, just work hard.

 

[Lykin]

I went to Purdue for ECE and I highly recommend it. It's a good program, for one. But the best part is that Purdue hosts one of the largest career fairs in the world every year, and the Purdue name commands respect among hiring employers. You will do well with a degree from there.

I was leaning towards Purdue a bit at the time of posting mainly because I was reading through their ECE website and liked the sound of it. Plus the cost of Purdue is also better than UIUC.

If you are pursuing a higher degree, undergrad ranking doesn't mean much within reason because the undergrad curriculum is pretty much standardized. My opinion is there would be no more variability in the education you received by different faculty at the same institution than by different institutions. A better reason to choose one or the other might be 1) Availability of certain extracurriculars or 2) price. Wherever you decide to go, just work hard.

I had thought that undergrad rankings meant less than grad rankings but was not sure. I will probably end up picking based on cost and ECs (at this point in time I'm leaning towards Purdue).

Thank you both for your advice.